Careers

Discover a Place

Where you can be recognized and valued

Where your ideas come to life

Where you can inspire and be inspired

Be Part of a Delicious Legacy

Since 1852, Ghirardelli has created a legacy of creativity that sets our company apart from our competitors. Today, our innovative heritage continues to thrive, as Ghirardelli team members of different backgrounds work together, joined by a common passion: bringing new, delicious ideas to life. We’ve made it our priority to offer a supportive, engaging culture where our people feel valued, not simply for the skills they bring to our company, but for who they are as individuals.

That’s why we make sure that all of our team members, even if you are new to the company, have the opportunity to work on exciting, challenging projects and are given everything they need to do their best work. So we invite you to explore our opportunities and discover a place where your ideas come to life, as part of our delicious legacy.

Our Culture

Challenging and Interesting Work —Ghirardelli’s agile size and streamlined structure gives team members early and regular exposure to exciting projects where their ideas can be heard, valued and realized.

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Appreciated and Valued by Management —Ghirardelli has created a supportive culture in which all team members are recognized, valued and appreciated by management –both professionally and personally. Bottom line: People Matter Here.

3

Training and Development —Ghirardelli is dedicated to investing in team members and giving them everything they need to do their best work. We believe that any individual success lays the foundation for our corporate success.

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High Quality Products and Services —Ghirardelli team members are responsible for creating and stewarding premium products and services that are nationally-recognized, resulting in exciting new projects and career-enhancing experience.

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Diverse Work Force —Ghirardelli team members represent an eclectic mix of backgrounds, ethnicities and work styles –these differences enable us to develop inspired products and services and allow us better serve our customers.

Ghirardelli has a rich history and heritage in San Francisco

GHIRARDELLI VALUES

QUALITY

Teamwork

Innovation

We foster an environment that encourages the creativity needed to excel.

Leadership

We behave as owners, develop and empower our colleagues, act with integrity and hold ourselves accountable.

Passion

We believe absolutely in our brand, our product and our potential. We love what we do.

People Matter

We each do important work that we believe in. It is recognized, valued and appreciated. We are learning, growing, and supported. We care.

Quality

We exceed expectations in everything we do.

Teamwork

We will achieve more by working together

Innovation

We foster an environment that encourages the creativity needed to excel.

Leadership

We behave as owners, develop and empower our colleagues, act with integrity and hold ourselves accountable.

Passion

We believe absolutely in our brand, our product and our potential. We love what we do.

People Matter

We each do important work that we believe in. It is recognized, valued and appreciated. We are learning, growing, and supported. We care.

Ghirardelli At a Glance

So what sets us apart?

Each Ghirardelli team member is as important as each ingredient in our secret recipes, and each individual contributes to the overall success of Ghirardelli Chocolate. To achieve our always-ambitious goals, our diverse teams work together to delight our loyal customers and consumers. Distinct teams from finance and operations to research and development to HR and Marketing

collaborate to improve our products, create new ones, and make sure anyone and everyone can enjoy our premium chocolate.

Here’s a quick look at how three of our core business areas bring Ghirardelli’s products from our factories and offices to stores, shops, and restaurants across the country.

Confections & Baking

Confections and Baking, the largest division of Ghirardelli, brings our premium chocolate brand alive to consumers across the country and around the world. We develop the brand strategy, create products that surprise and delight our consumers and deliver those products to market. You'll see our products in stores everywhere from large mass, drug stores, club, and grocery retailers to boutiques, specialty shops and airport stores. We build the business with confections and baking products in year-round and seasonal offerings. Our jobs require strong insights from our consumers, customers and vendors and we rely on integrated cross-functional teamwork to achieve our goals.

Restaurant & Retail

Over the past 48 years, our Restaurant and Retail division has evolved from a single soda fountain and retail store in Ghirardelli Square into a dynamic department, with over 700 colleagues. We provide our guests an opportunity to experience the Ghirardelli brand and premium chocolate in all senses. Specializing in World Famous Hot Fudge Sundaes, of course made with melted Ghirardelli Chocolate, our Ice Cream and Chocolate Shops also feature distinctive gifts for everyone. Our Outlet stores offer extraordinary premium chocolate deals to shoppers. Last but not least, our E-commerce business unit works tirelessly to ensure Ghirardelli can be found at the top of your search engine results and received on your doorstep when ordered online.

Professional Products

World-class restaurants, cafes, and bakeries use Ghirardelli's premium ingredients to create mouth-watering desserts and beverages. The Professional Products Division manages its own product line, which includes chocolate & caramel sauces, frappes, ground chocolates, hot cocoas, chocolate chips and cocoa powders. The division's marketing team develops these premium products and markets them to restaurant chains, chefs, baristas and bakers. The division's sales force sells these products throughout foodservice, specialty coffee and industrial channels across the U.S. as well as in some key international markets.

Ready to join our diverse team? As our products and brand continue to expand, we're always looking to add new talent to our world-class company. Come to a place where you will enjoy a rewarding career in an engaging workplace that truly values your opinions and contributions.

OUR BENEFITS

Share in the excitement of belonging to a growing organization by working for the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. We aim to provide a work environment that is conducive to both personal and professional growth. We believe that each employee contributes directly to Ghirardelli's growth and success. We offer broad range of benefits to our exempt and non-exempt employees. These may include the following:

Medical/dental/vision plans

Flexible time off

Paid holidays

Life insurance

401(k) retirement and savings plan

Short-term disability

Flexible benefits accounts

Product purchase discounts

Educational assistance program

Employee assistance program

Note: This is not intended to be a complete description of all our benefits but a brief summary for your review. The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, at its sole discretion, reserves the right to change, modify, or eliminate benefits at any time.

EMPLOYEE SAFETY

Our Safety Absolutes

Safety is THE overriding priority.

All accidents can and must be prevented.

At Ghirardelli, Safety is EVERYONE'S responsibility

At Ghirardelli we recognize the significant employee contributions that have a positive impact on the safety and health program. It is our belief that our recognition program helps improve the safety culture by encouraging individuals as well as groups of employees to achieve a higher level of safety awareness.

The safety and health program is based on our company value that "People Matter" and we care about their well-being and their ability to provide for their families.

We are committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for all employees and visitors to comply with safety and health standards that supports federal, state, and local laws and regulations. With the full support of upper management, this commitment is met through teamwork of all departments, their management, and our safety team members.

This commitment is met through the teamwork of all departments, their management, and our safety team members with the full support of our senior management team.

OUR EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

Marty Thompson is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company and is responsible for Ghirardelli’s day-to-day operations as well as the Company overall strategy and direction. Marty was appointed to this position in May, 2011.

Marty began his Ghirardelli career in 2004 as Vice President of Sales. In this role he was responsible for 80 percent of the company’s revenue, which more than doubled during his tenure. As Ghirardelli’s Sales VP, Marty and his team built a number of customer-facing capabilities including the trade marketing, customer supply chain, retail sales merchandising, and category management departments and oversaw the development of the Company’s Foodservice Sales organization.

Martin Hug Chief Financial Officer, Ghirardelli Chocolate Company

Martin is Chief Financial Officer of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. In this role, Martin is responsible for oversight of the finance and accounting; information technology; procurement; and legal functions. He joined Ghirardelli in 2011 and started with its parent company, the Lindt Group in 2004. Prior to becoming Chief Financial Officer of Ghirardelli, Martin developed and managed finance, supply chain and information technology of Lindt’s subsidiary in London, United Kingdom. He also worked for more than a year in Lindt’s corporate headquarters in Switzerland as Senior Corporate Controller.

Before joining the Lindt Group, Martin started his career at Volcafe Group, one of the leading commodity trading (coffee) companies in the world. He was trained in all aspects of the trading business in Ecuador, Honduras, and Switzerland before gaining additional experience in Costa Rica. While in Costa Rica, he held positions as Finance Director and Regional Project Manager for Latin America.

In 1997, Martin graduated from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and holds a master’s degree in Economics, awarded with high distinction. He also serves on the advisory board of the management accounting & controlling institute (IAC) of Kalaidos Business School in Zurich, Switzerland. In his spare time, Martin enjoys travelling with his wife to exotic places and experiencing different cultures and people. He also likes to play and follow sports (tennis, soccer, baseball) – during his time in London he became a member and follower of the Chelsea Football Club.

Vicki Isip Vice President of Marketing

Vicki Isip joined Ghirardelli in 2012 as Vice President of Marketing. As Vice President of Marketing, Vicki is responsible for the overall visual expression of the brand, as well as enhancing the brand equity built up over the last 160 years. She has responsibility for the advertising, consumer promotion, digital strategy, public relations, and innovation roadmap for the confections and baking businesses that are sold in grocery, drug, club, and big box stores.

Wine, ice cream, and chocolate. Vicki has spent 17 years mastering the art of indulging and making consumers very happy. Prior to Ghirardelli, Vicki tripled the size of the Nestle Ice Cream portfolio building the Skinny Cow, Drumstick, and Dreyer’s s Outshine brands. She has expertise in brand positioning, innovation strategies, portfolio management, and consumer communications. In her eight years at the E & J Gallo Winery, Vicki managed the Beverage and Table Wine portfolios and held a shopper marketing role. Vicki earned her MBA at the University of Chicago’s Booth School and her BA in Art History from Cornell University. In her free time, Vicki enjoys Bhakti Yoga, photography, and healthy cooking. She and her college sweetheart-turned-husband are parents to two sporty and musical children and two viszla dogs.

Rob Budowski Vice President of Sales

Rob joined the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company on June 1, 2011, as Vice President of Sales responsible for confection and baking products for retail partners across the United States along with the Travel Retail and Export divisions internationally. Trade Marketing, Category Management and the Customer Sales groups fall within this portfolio. Rob is also a member of the Management Team responsible for top-line strategic direction.

Prior to joining the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, Rob worked with Lindt & Sprungli (Canada), Inc. from 1995 until 2011 holding senior Sales positions with his last posting as Vice President of Sales. The 10 years prior to that were spent in a variety of roles gaining consumer packaged goods experience within tier one organizations. Rob graduated from the University of Manitoba, Canada, with a bachelor of arts degree in 1986.

John Dodge Vice President of Operations

John joined Ghirardelli Chocolate Company in 2009 as Vice President of Operations responsible for engineering, manufacturing operations, logistics, and customer service. Prior to joining Ghirardelli, John held various positions in procurement and operations at Mars, Incorporated over a 13-year career. Prior to Mars, John worked in merchandising and logistics roles for Columbia Grain International, a US subsidiary of Marubeni Corporation for eight years.

John has previously been a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Foreign Trade Council and a Conferring Member of the New York Board of Trade. He holds BS degrees in Agricultural Business Management and Agricultural Engineering Technology from Oregon State University, as well as a master’s in Business Administration from Portland State University.

Michelle Kwait Vice President of Human Resources

Michelle began her career with Ghirardelli in 2011 with a focus on building global talent management programs for both Ghirardelli and its parent company, Lindt, helping to ensure the right people are in the right roles across the globe. Additionally, as Vice President of Human Resources, Michelle is responsible for helping Ghirardelli create a modern and strategic HR function. Her goal is to support Ghirardelli’s talented teams by ensuring we have best in class development programs, benefits, perks, compensation and rewards, and career opportunities. She believes that helping leaders be successful in managing individuals and teams is one of the secrets to a great work environment.

Prior to joining Ghirardelli, Michelle worked for Williams-Sonoma, Inc., holding roles as the Director of Learning & Development and Director of Human Resources. She also worked in higher education as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Heald College and Director of Human Resources for Stanford University. Michelle began her HR career with Marriott International. Working across a variety of industries is an advantage that brings a broad perspective in helping a company value it’s most critical assets – the people.

Michelle has a BS in Business Administration from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. She is an avid fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In her free time she enjoys running, fine wine, live music and travel. Michelle often says, ”Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania gave me a certain grounding and common sense perspective about life and what’s important, but I’ve always had a tremendous sense for adventure and sometimes a bit of mischief that drove me to leave my home town and see the world!

Yvo Smit Vice President of Restaurant & Retail

After graduating with a master’s in public administration and some time as a logistics officer in the Dutch navy, Yvo decided to see something of the world and ended up in the USA. Yvo’s strong belief that “the only things you will regret in life are the things you did not do” might explain why he started his career selling chewing gum out of the trunk of a car in New Hampshire, while barely speaking English. Several years and cities later, after finishing his MBA at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Yvo relocated to San Francisco where he worked for McKinsey & Company and Clorox, before ending up at Ghirardelli Chocolate 8 years ago.

At Ghirardelli, Yvo is responsible for the Restaurant and Retail division which employs over 700 colleagues and provides our guests with stores where they can experience our brand and chocolate in all senses. Since retail is all about detail and delivering great guests experiences, you are very unlikely to find Yvo in his office. You will find him in stores (hot chocolate in hand) interacting with our guests and colleagues who, by the way, make or break our business.

Yvo’s talent to engage colleagues at every level of the organization has created a loyal and high-performing Restaurant and Retail team. People and ‘winning’ are what gets Yvo up in the morning. No day will go by without him encouraging quality, action to achieve goals, and innovation by creating test and learn situations. Decision making based on data and a positive can do attitude are key elements exhibited by the colleagues in his division. As a strong supporter of the local community, Yvo and his team organize the yearly chocolate festival at Ghirardelli Square, which attracts over 50,000 visitors with proceeds going to Project Open Hand, a San Francisco-based cause.

Steve Genzoli Vice President of Quality Assurance / Research & Development

In this role, Steve is responsible for the overall product quality, research and development, packaging engineering and consumer response functions for the company. Steve joined Ghirardelli in 1997 and has helped guide the strategic growth of the company for the past 16 years.

Prior to joining Ghirardelli, Steve spent 8 years with Nestle Chocolate where he held roles in Operations Management and Technical Services and 3 years with Fuji Vegetable Oil where he served as the Technical Marketing Manager.

Steve received his Bachelor of Science in Food Science from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California.

Steve is an active member of the Pennsylvania Manufacturing Confectioners Association, serving as a Board Member, the National Confectioners Association where he is a member of the Chocolate Council, and lastly he serves on the Executive Board of the World Cocoa Foundation where he is a past Vice Chairman.

Steve and his wife celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2013 and have 3 children. In his spare time, he watches every sporting event his kids take part in and farms 20 acres of almonds.